Nearly 59k polling stations set up for Iran's 14th presidential election

 June 28 (IANS) Spokesman for Iran's Constitutional Council Hadi Tahan Nazif has said that nearly 59,000 polling stations have been set up in more than 95 states for the country's 14th presidential election, scheduled for Friday. He made the remarks on Thursday at a press conference in the Iranian capital Tehran, while elaborating on the details of the upcoming election and voting process. Nazif stressed that following the "painful" death of former President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19, the entire preparatory process of the snap election was completed in close to 40 days, which shows the "strength and power" of the country's Islamic establishment. He said election observers, including those of the Constitutional Council, would be present at all polling stations inside the country and abroad to supervise the voting process according to law. He stressed that the Iranian Interior Ministry would be the official reference for announcing the election results, advising the candidates and their fans against any hasty speculation following the voting process. Iran's 14th presidential election, initially set for 2025, was rescheduled following Raisi's unexpected death. Initially, six candidates, including Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, the current vice president, Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the parliamentary speaker, Saeed Jalili, the former top negotiator for nuclear talks, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior minister and justice minister, and Masoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister, were qualified to enter the race. But Hashemi and Zakani, two principlist candidates, withdrew from the race in favour of Qalibaf and Jalili, who are also in the principlists' camp. In remarks on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iran's Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said that over 61 million Iranians are eligible to vote on Friday.